CNG

Days after new gas pricing norms adopted by Centre, city gas distribution companies across the country announce price cuts for PNG & CNG

GAIL Gas Ltd, the city gas arm of the nation's largest gas firm GAIL (India) Ltd, on Sunday announced a reduction of up to Rs 7 in the prices of CNG and piped cooking gas following a reduction in input gas price. GAIL Gas cut the price of the gas that households received through piped natural gas, or PNG, by Rs 7 per standard cubic metre in Bengaluru and Dakshin Kannada and by Rs 6 per scm in other cities where the company operates. Similarly, CNG price has been cut by Rs 7 per kg in Karnataka and by Rs 6 in other areas, the company said in a statement. "GAIL Gas Limited is also steering its pricing mechanism in line with the Government of India's guideline to pass on new domestic gas pricing benefits to its customers and has announced a substantial reduction in prices with effect from April 9, 2023," it said. The new effective domestic PNG prices are Rs 52.50 per scm in Dewas, Meerut, Sonipat, Taj Trapezium Zone, Raisen, Mirzapur, Dhanbad, Adityapur and Rourkela, and Rs 51.50 per

The prices of CNG and cooking gas piped to household kitchens in the national capital on Saturday were cut by up to Rs 6 - the first reduction in two years - after the government changed the pricing formula of natural gas. CNG in the national capital territory of Delhi will now cost Rs 73.59 per kg, down from Rs 79.56, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) - the firm which retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the city, said in a Twitter post. Simultaneously, the rates of gas piped to household kitchens, called piped natural gas (PNG), has been cut to Rs 48.59 per standard cubic metre in Delhi from Rs 53.59 per scm, according to IGL. The reduction follows an over 80 per cent increase in prices in two years. CNG prices were hiked on 15 occasions between April 2021 and December 2022. Since April 2021, CNG prices have increased by Rs 36.16 per kg, or 83 per cent, according to data compiled by PTI. CNG prices were last hiked on December 17, 2022. Similarly, PNG rates have increased by 10 times ..

The government on Thursday amended the domestic pricing model of natural gas in line with the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh committee on gas pricing

Centre accepts all major recommendations of Kirit Parikh committee, imposes price caps

Officials said existing APM gas prices have been left broadly unchanged till Sept 31 as a temporary arrangement

Though EVs have fast gained traction; CNG vehicle sales are up 82% in 5 years

The Union Cabinet is likely to soon consider imposing caps or a ceiling on price for majority of natural gas produced in the country to keep input costs for users ranging from CNG to fertilizer companies in check, sources said. The government bi-annually fixes prices of locally produced natural gas -- which is converted into CNG for use in automobiles, piped to household kitchens for cooking and used to generate electricity and make fertilisers. Two different formulas govern rates paid for gas produced from legacy or old fields of national oil companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), and that for newer fields lying in difficult to tap areas such as deepsea. The global spurt in energy prices post Russia's invasion of Ukraine have led to rates of locally produced gas climbing to record levels - USD 8.57 per million British thermal unit for gas from legacy or old fields and USD 12.46 per mmBtu for gas from difficult fields. These rates are due to

Tailwinds for the industry in the form of decline in gas prices are also near-term positive

Mumbai's civic transport body BEST on Thursday said the nearly 400 CNG-run buses which were taken off roads after three recent incidents of fire will be back in service only after a written assurance of safety is received from manufacturer Tata Motors. A team of TATA Motors Engineering arrived in the city from Lucknow on Thursday and is re-examining all these buses for compliance of safety standards, BEST said in a statement. Once they complete examination of safety parameters and give necessary clearance and written commitment and assurance of safety norms compliance, these buses will be put to service, it said, adding that the exercise is likely to be completed in six or seven days. On Wednesday evening, BEST undertaking announced taking 400 leased buses of M/S Mateshwari Limited off roads after a third incident of a CNG bus catching fire within one month. The 400 leased CNG buses of Mateshwari operate on around 40 routes, BEST sources said. Commuters faced a lot of inconvenien

Mumbai's civic transport body BEST on Wednesday said it was taking 400 leased buses off roads after three incidents of these buses catching fire were reported within one month. A bus of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking was completely gutted in fire in suburban Andheri earlier in the evening. No one was injured in the incident, officials said. In view of these incidents involving TATA CNG buses operated by M/S Mateshwari Ltd, BEST has decided to take all 400 buses off roads till the OEM (original manufacturer) and operator take necessary corrective measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future, said BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra in a statement.

CNG, EVs and hybrid vehicles may grab up to 30 per cent share in total auto sales in next five years even as petrol cars are likely to dominate passenger vehicle volumes in medium-term, a report said on Tuesday. Demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs) has increased exponentially in the last two years with the government's push, increasing awareness, and new launches, domestic rating agency Icra said in its report. However, the share of EVs in the overall PV (passenger vehicle) industry remains low, at 1 per cent currently, it stated. On the other hand, CNG vehicles have also gained prominence in recent years, aided by favourable running costs, improving penetration of CNG dispensing stations across the country, and enhanced product offerings by OEMs, Icra said and added, lower emissions in CNG vehicles would also help OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) comply with the impending Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAF) norms. Noting that a cohesive approach from all stakeholders is ...

After nearly half a dozen times of hikes, the city gas utility Mahanagar Gas on Tuesday announced a reduction of Rs 2.50 per kilogram to Rs 87 a kg in the price of compressed natural gas (CNG), effective from Wednesday. Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL), however, left the price of cooking gas PNG unchanged. Since April 6, the price of CNG had gone up by Rs 29.50 per kilogram and that of piped natural gas (PNG) for residential use by Rs 18.50 at Rs 54. CNG price on November 4, 2022 had peaked at Rs 89.50 per kilogram and that of PNG at Rs 54 a kg. The state-owned company said the marginal cut in prices is in anticipation of the increased allocation of domestically-produced natural gas from high pressure-high temperature areas to distribution entities by the oil ministry, which lowers its input gas cost. After this reduction, the retail price of the fuel will come down to Rs 87 per kg in and around Mumbai, MGL said in a statement. This is the first price reduction since the second week of Ap

Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the firm that retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital and other cities, reported 11 per cent drop in third quarter net profit after it held retail prices despite rise in input cost. Consolidated net profit of Rs 334.06 crore in October-December 2022 is compared with Rs 374.76 crore a year back, according to the company's filing with stock exchanges. The firm saw more than doubling of the cost it incurs on procuring natural gas, which is converted into CNG for sale to automobiles and piped to household kitchens for cooking purposes. Revenue from operations soared to Rs 4,089.03 crore in the third quarter of current fiscal year from Rs 2,438.48 crore in the year-ago period. "For the quarter ending December 2022, IGL registered an overall sales volume growth of 6 per cent over the corresponding quarter in the last fiscal, with the average daily sale going up from 7.66 million standard cubic meters to 8.12 million standard cubic meters per day,"

But imposing policies that deter domestic exploration and production

Noisy and polluting boats on the Ganga river are now plying on environment-friendly CNG as part of a plan to cut noise and air pollution on the holy river. As many as 583 boats already have CNG engines and plans are afoot to replace the entire fleet of boats operating on banks of the holy city of Varanasi with environment-friendly fuel, Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said on Sunday. These boats are being supplied CNG from India's first floating CNG station built by GAIL at Namo Ghat. "In July last year Prime Minister had desired that boats on holy Ganga should be run on CNG. Against the target of 500 boats, 583 have already switched to CNG and we are working to get 2,000 boats to convert," he said. To promote the fuel, a race of CNG-run boats was organised on banks of this holy city. Compared to diesel-fuelled boat engines, CNG engines produce less pollution and do not emit harmful gases like sulphur dioxide. CNG engines are also much quieter, thereby minimising the adverse effects the

Private player Adani Total Gas Limited hiked the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Gujarat by Re 1 per kilogram effective from Monday. This has taken the price from Rs 79.34 to Rs 80.34 per kilogram, said Arvind Thakkar, president of Federation of Gujarat Petroleum Dealers Association. The hike by Adani Total Gas Limited comes days after state-run Gujarat Gas raised the price of CNG by nearly Rs 3.5 per kg, Thakkar added.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday flagged off 100 new CNG-run buses, as part of the Smart City Mission. He also inaugurated the city's first CNG fuel station. The CM said the launch of the CNG-run buses and the inauguration of the fuel station were decisive steps for "gradual but firm mitigation" of the impacts of climate change and global warming. The CNG buses were gifted by Guwahati Smart City Ltd to Assam State Transport Corporation. The passenger vehicles are equipped with air-conditioning, fire-detection, global positioning systems and several other features, and will be operated by ASTC. Noting that excessive use of fossil fuel, such as petrol and diesel, is the prime reason for global warming, the CM said the carbon emission from the use of such energy is creating climatic imbalances in many parts of the globe, including Assam. It is important that "all must unite to mitigate the impacts of climate change and work out a long-term and permanent solution",

Rising gas prices have constrained CNG penetration in commercial vehicles to 9-10 per cent in the current fiscal from peaks of 16 per cent, Icra Ratings said on Friday. A spurt in global energy prices has led to a 70 per cent jump in the price of CNG in the last one year. This has narrowed the gap between the fuel and diesel, blurring the incentive to shift to the cleaner fuel. In a statement, the rating agency said CNG penetration in the domestic commercial vehicle (CV) sector has witnessed a decline in the current fiscal, especially in the MCV truck segment. "Rising CNG prices have narrowed the gap with diesel and in turn, diminished the running cost savings from CNG vehicles, which has been the key deterrent," it said. Notwithstanding the recent decline witnessed in CNG penetration, medium-term prospects remain favourable given the improving CNG fuelling infrastructure and push for cleaner vehicles, it added. Icra said CV industry has witnessed a contraction in the penetration

The Union government should moderate the excise duty it levies on CNG till such time that the environment-friendly natural gas is included in the one-nation-one-tax GST regime, Kirit Parikh Committee has recommended. Natural gas is currently outside the ambit of GST, and existing legacy taxes -- central excise duty, state VAT and central sales tax -- continue to be applicable on the fuel. While the central government does not levy excise duty on natural gas when sold in gaseous form, it charges a 14 per cent tax on compressed natural gas (CNG). States levy VAT as high as 24.5 per cent on gas. The Parikh Committee, which was formed to recommend fair price of gas to the end consumer and a "market-oriented, transparent and reliable pricing regime", in its report to the Oil Ministry last week suggested that "gas should be brought under the GST regime". "The committee recognise that this requires consensus among the states," it said. "To obtain this, if need be the states may be ...